Topographical Relationship of the Superficial Temporal Vessels and the Auriculotemporal Nerve

Jung, Wonsug; Chung, In Hyuk; Lee, Hye Yeon; Yoon, Kwan Hyun; Kil, Young Chun; Kim, Joong Kyoung

Abstract

The anatomy of the superficial temporal vessels and the auriculotemporal nerve is important when harvesting various skin flaps in the temporal region. But Anatomy textbooks describe only one pattern of topographical relationship between these structures. A total of 65 Korean cadavers with 121 sides were used. We examined the topographical relationship between the superficial temporal artery and vein and the auriculotemporal nerve. And the bifurcating location of the superficial temporal artery and its distance from the lamina tragi were measured. The running patterns of the superficial temporal vessels were classified into 4 types according to their distance from each other and their parallelism. The artery and vein run parallel to each other in 61.2%. The running patterns of the superficial temporal vessels were classified into 5 types according to their anterior and posterior relationship. The artery runs anterior to the vein in most of the cases (72.7%). The topographic relationships of the auriculotemporal nerve and the superficial temporal vessels were classified into 6 types according to their anterior, posterior, superficial or deep position. In this classification, the relationship between the artery and the vein was not considered. The frequencies of 6 types were within 10~20%. The bifurcation of the artery occurred above the zygomatic arch in 85.3%. The superficial temporal artery ran 5.1 mm anterior to the tragus.